Practice Management

HuffPo has an article on "desk rage" -- anger at the workplace.  It concerns employees and employers who are grumpy, insulting, short-tempered or worse.  And, it is apparently very common.  Bob Sutton, author of The No Asshole Rule  refers to these people as such.

According to the article or post, desk rage "runs gamut from just rudeness up to pretty extreme abusive behaviors," said Paul Spector, professor of industrial and organizational psychology at the University of South Florida. "The severe cases of fatal violence get a lot of press but in some ways this is more insidious because it affects millions of people."

How extensive is it really?  Nearly half of all workers in America report yelling and verbal abuse on the job, and a quarter of all American workers claiming to have been driven to tears over it.  One-sixth of workers also report anger so out of control that it has led to property damage.

I am not only sure that this is not uncommon in law firms, I have experienced it in myself in working in law firms, working with law firms, and I have experienced it first hand from judges in chambers.  The first few years of my legal career almost did me in as a result of desk rage.  Every Monday I would have to go to Court and appear in front of this particular judge.  Every Monday he would call me and other lawyers back into his Chambers after announcements.  Every Monday he would let go into a walleyed fit replete with cussing, throwing things, and kicking trash cans and such.  Every Sunday night I could not sleep, and every Monday I would feel sick driving to Court.  Often the anger was directed at me directly and usually ended with him pointing his finger in a direction and yelling at me to "get f#%&, and hit the door".  I recall finally having enough and yelled back at him to get "f!@%*&!"  My first thought after doing it was that I was going to jail for a few days.  As it turned out, he liked it.  He enjoyed these macho altercations.  So, then it would turn into four-letter quarrel every Monday, then we would redeem ourselves, go into the Courtroom and both act like it never happened.

I was an enabler, I guess.  Worse, I can tell you it is not good because once you stoop to this judge's level, then you give yourself permission to act the same way.  That is not good.

This person finally stepped off the bench and I finally left town.  And, my demeanor, deportment, behavior and treatment of others has very much improved.  And, best of all I can now sleep on Sunday nights and the post traumatic stress of it all has subsided with the years.  All I can say is that it is no way to start of a legal career.

Such deportment by anybody is infantile.  Immature people acting out, freely, irregularly, hysterically, uncontrollably, in a truly wild way is never, never good.  It is really the act of being ungovernable, unmanageable and lawless.  That is not good for any organization.  And, being a reprobate or acting out in a vicious, sinful, bad or wicked way is never good for your personal constitution.  It causes more harm than good.

For me these days I work at being more calm, more composed, more philosophical, more untroubled, or stoic or sober.  But, on those rare occasions when I am not, I work at home, and I generally have nobody to yell at but myself.  Oh, I can scream at my computer, tip over my chair, but what good does that do me.  I am more likely to take a nap, sit on the back patio with some tea and just untighten, unwind and let the moment pass.